How many yet to be rehabilitated in Veer dam project? Asks Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court has directed Maharashtra's Water Resources Department to submit a report by March 15 informing how many persons had not yet been given the benefit of a rehabilitation scheme in lieu of their land acquired for construction of Veer dam Khandala, near Pune.

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court has directed Maharashtra's Water Resources Department to submit a report by March 15 informing how many persons had not yet been given the benefit of a rehabilitation scheme in lieu of their land acquired for construction of Veer dam Khandala, near Pune.

The court has also asked the state to indicate how many persons had been given the rehabilitation package.

The court gave this direction on a complaint that there are a large number of persons who have lost land due to the construction of Veer dam in Khandala still not given compensation or rehabilitation package.

The court asked the Satara Collector to file a report by December 31 about such people in the same district, while the state government was directed to call for reports from the Collectors of other districts, compile them and submit a report by March 31.

The court was informed that it was only due to the intervention of the bench that Satara District Collector had given a parcel of land to Mauli Laxman Taru under the rehabilitation scheme, for the land he lost due to the dam construction.

Earlier, Mauli Taru had made a grievance to the court that he had not been given land compensation under the rehabilitation package.